1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a wireless communication device and, more particularly, to a wireless communication device supporting two or more communication schemes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication devices perform wireless communication using a plurality of communication schemes such as, for example, a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication scheme, a Bluetooth (BT) communication scheme, a near field communication (NFC) communication scheme, a global positioning system (GPS) or cellular communication scheme (e.g., long term evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-A), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), wireless broadband (WiBro), or global system for mobile communication (GSM)). The wireless communication device further includes a broadcast receiving unit (e.g., a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB)) and frequency modulation (FM) radio receiver), to receive a broadcasting signal or radio signal.
A wireless communication device wirelessly communicates with other communication devices based on WLAN signals, Bluetooth signals, and/or cellular communication signals. For example, a plurality of laptops, netbook computers, mobile terminals, and tablet devices wirelessly connect to networks such as, for example, the Internet and/or private networks, using WLAN signals (also commonly referred to as WiFi signals), and communicate with local BT-enabled devices such as, for example, headsets, printers, and scanners, using bluetooth signals. Also, the wireless communication device, which may be embodied as a smart phone or a and mobile terminal, may wirelessly communicate based on a corresponding communication protocol.
These communication functions are implemented in one module (for example, a system on chip (SoC) or a network on chip (NoC)) of the wireless communication device, or are implemented in separate respective modules of the wireless communication device.
A control module (e.g., a processor) is also included in the wireless communication device. The control module is coupled with at least one module (for example, a communication module) in order to perform a plurality of communication functions, and to process data received through a corresponding communication function or data that is to be transmitted. The control module forwards data through a data bus, which corresponds to the at least one module performing the plurality of communication functions.
At least one communication module performing the communication functions and a control module are connected through at least one interface. For example, the at least one communication module and the control module require a number of interfaces that corresponds corresponding to a number of the communication modules performing the communication functions. For example, four sub modules performing four communication functions and a control module are connected through four interfaces.